SHE'S PROBABLY FASTER THAN YOU

Meet Jessica Snyder. Odds are, if you are roaming the pits at an AMA National or Supercross this year, you will see this stunning 20-year-old hanging around with a bunch of police and firemen. She's part of the all-new team called firepolicemx.com. The team was formed by Ed Wilson and Brad Hannig for 2004, and is designed to promote safety around the entire United States.Snyder is teamed up with four 125 riders including Dayton Beavers, Tommy Harrison, Nathan Crawford, and Jeremy Chaussee. She races in the pro class in the Women's Motocross League and is usually in the top 10. And when there is not a WML event, she races in the 125cc Intermediate class against the boys. "Ever since I was really little my dad always rode quads," said Jessica. "We went out every weekend, and then when I moved in with my mom, my step dad got us dirt bikes. I started off trail riding and then did some hare scrambles, and once I tried motocross I was hooked.""It was a little intimidating at first because I started when I was 11. I started out on an 80, and since girls grow faster than guys, I rode it for a year and then got a 125. It was real intimidating because a lot of them had been riding 125s for a really long time.""Jessica is really a good ambassador for the sport," said Hannig. "She's really helping us out a lot with our RISK program, which stands for Right Information Saves Kids. Our primary focus is youth recreational safety. We believe, as fire and policemen, as we participate in this sport, that we try to give back to our communities. We want to instill in young kids the importance of wearing helmets, not matter if they are on a bicycle, skateboard, scooter or a motorcycle. We see these kinds of accidents all the time, and we see the dangers these kids put themselves in. And with extreme sports, and the popularity increasing, we see that it's even more important to do these things. So, we created a couple cartoon characters and a video that will be played at all the supercross events that dramatizes our message. We have mascot costumes that we bring around the pits, and all of these are part of the program. We're still in the development of a community-based program, but we are taking those steps right now. We want to be able to go into schools, show them the video, hand out posters, and talk to them about safety. If we can save just one kid's life, then this entire thing is worth it."